1. Field of the Present Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to mechanized farm equipment and more particularly to such equipment relating to hay bales or other crop bales, and specifically to the transport, cutting or splitting of such bales.
2. Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Ramer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,578, discloses a round bale cutter having an open bale loading side and a cut hay exhaust side with a bale receiving area on a floor in between. The cutter includes a housing with a gap on the hay exhaust side extending the length of the machine just above the floor and a hay reprocessing chamber attached to housing and extending outward and downward from the gap. A rotary cutter drum equipped with knives about its periphery is supported on a drive shaft which extends from end to end of the housing, with the cutter drum being positioned in the gap in contact with a hay bale in the bale receiving area. The hay bale is initially cut by the drum, propelling cut hay strands into the hay reprocessing chamber where they circulate long enough to hit the rotary drum knives again. The twice cut strands, which are small enough to be used in feed mixing operations, are then expelled through an exhaust side opening in the hay reprocessing chamber. Borgford, U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,326, discloses an apparatus for cutting baled crop materials particularly of the cylindrical bale type comprised of an apparatus in the form of a conventional chain saw in which the chain is modified so that either the slide links or the guide links include an outwardly projecting cutting plate. The cutting plate is shaped to form a cutting edge having a ramp shape commencing at a position intersecting the previous link and extending outwardly at a gradual inclination of the order of 20.degree. to an outermost point and then a trailing edge which extends backwardly toward the main body of the chain. The width of the cutting plate is less than the width of the chain itself in view of the tension in the bale which pulls the bale apart as it is cut. Bergkamp et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,042, discloses a horizontally oriented three sided frame that is adapted to hold a round hay bale. An endless chain driven conveyor in the floor of the frame causes the round bale to rotate about a longitudinal axis while simultaneously urging a portion of the perimeter of the bale against a sickle bar cutter arrayed just above the floor on one side of the frame. The cutter chops the hay bale into manageable portions for feeding to livestock. The sickle bar cutter includes a conventional reciprocating cutter bar with triangularly shaped cutting teeth arranged continuously along the bar. A specially designed blade guide allows the entire cutting surfaces of the teeth to extend past the blade guide as they reciprocate. This insures that the hay bale is fed rapidly into the reciprocating teeth since no blade guide teeth enter the cutting gaps between the cutting teeth as they reciprocate and thus do not interfere with the advancement of the hay bale into cutter. Neier, U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,121, discloses a frame work mounted on a 3 point hitch of a tractor and including on its lower end a pair of bale support forks extending rearwardly. A pair of vertically disposed rails carry a vertically movable sickle cutter which extends parallel to the support forks and is centered to move therebetween when cutting through a bale positioned on the forks with its longitudinal axis parallel to the forks and the sickle cutter. The round bale of hay can be cut into half sections and then again into quarter sections. The bale support and cutter may be used for transporting bales with the sickle cutter pressing down against the top of the bale. Wangsness, U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,448, discloses a bale saw for cutting up large, cylindrical hay bales including a frame for quick mounting on a tractor load bucket. The frame includes a cross member and rearwardly projecting upper and lower structures which slidably mount over the bottom of the load bucket. A top member on the frame bolts to the top of the load bucket. Cable winches further strap the frame to the load bucket. A hydraulic motor, powered by the tractor hydraulic system, rotates a chain saw mounted on the frame. The tractor is driven up to a large hay bale, and the bucket may be adjusted to any height to cut the bale into pieces small enough for easy handling. Henderson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,899, discloses a hay bale cutter and a method of cutting a hay bale open, particularly suited for large round bales. The cutter has an elongate generally horizontal blade with a sharpened cutting leading edge, a skid on a lower edge for keeping the blade above ground, an upward facing support surface for support of a cut bale on the blade, and structure for securing the trailing end of the blade to a motor vehicle. The method has the steps of mounting the blade on a vehicle, taking the vehicle and mounted blade to a hay bale, spearing the sharpened end of the blade into one end of the bale, and plunging the blade through the length of the bale to cut the bale open along a radius of the bale. Ostrowski, U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,128, discloses a shredder and dispensing device for baled crop materials comprises a frame having coupling arrangements for mounting upon the front end loader linkage of a tractor. The frame carries a horizontal conveyor construction which has an inclined ramp at a forward end so that the ramp can be inserted underneath a bale to slide the ramp and conveyor under the bale to lift the bale onto the conveyor. The conveyor moves the bale toward one side of the device at which a shredder roller is provided with a suitable duct housing to direct the material out to one side of the implement. A deflector can be used to direct the material into feed bunks. The conveyor is mounted on a conveyor frame which can be raised to an inclined angle toward the shredder. The implement enables the handling and shredding of the bale in a simplified manner using a single machine. Woerman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,670, discloses a method and apparatus for slicing, lifting and carrying round bales or the like. The method for slicing the bale consists of making a radial cut through the length of the bale. The radial cut causes the circumferentially wrapped bale fibers to be cut which causes bale to open up. A partial radial cut, leaving the outer bale fibers uncut, can be made leaving bale substantially in a cylindrical shape to facilitate easy transport with a forklift like carrier. The apparatus consists of a mast assembly mounted to raiseable three point hitch of an agricultural tractor or the like. A pair of parallel forks are directly attached to mast and engage the curved sides of bale so as to lift and support bale for easy transport. A hydraulically activated knife assembly is attached to mast and forks. The knife has serrated teeth which cut through bale when knife reciprocates. A bumper or work guide when attached to the end of forks holds bale during cutting process. Bartolini, U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,703, discloses a bale handling and hay distributing apparatus comprised of a round-bale holder equipped with a device for rotating the bale around its central axis and a hay shredding unit. The bale holder is supported by a lift mechanism having a pair of vertically movable, projecting arms at the end of which the holder is pivotally connected. A device for rotating the bale holder with respect to the supporting lift mechanism is provided, so that the holder can be positioned in a hay dispensing position and in two different bale loading positions respectively rotated of an angle of 90.degree. and 180.degree with respect to the hay dispensing position. Hooks projecting from the longitudinal sides of the holder are provided having a cooperating jaw-movement for grasping the bale during loading operation. Ogman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,163, discloses an apparatus for slicing a large round bale into two or more parts prior to discharge from the baler. Slicing is accomplished by inserting a knife blade into the bale-forming chamber during or subsequent to the tying-off event while the bale rotates. The cutting means is inserted into the sidewalls of the baler and into the baling chamber. As the bale is rotated, the cutting means cuts the bale. Typically, a ring and core are formed. The preferred configurations of the core are cylinders or conical structures. Morlock et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,672, discloses a machine for grinding large bales of forage material is provided with a cradle pivotably mounted on a frame. The cradle is movable to a lowered position in which lifting members can engage a bale of crop material lying on the ground. The cradle can be pivoted to a working position in which gravity directs the bale against a grinder. The discharge of the comminuted forage material from the grinder is controlled by an adjustable deflector. A conveyor urges the bale toward the grinder, and tends to rotate the bale to evenly grind or chop away the outer periphery of the bale. Townsend, U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,573, discloses a bale handling apparatus including a frame portion, a bale moving portion, a bale engaging portion and a control portion; the frame portion including a base section, the base section including a pair of substantially parallel spaced side members; the bale moving portion including rotatable mechanism extending between the side members of the base section, the rotatable mechanism being disposed along the side members of the base section; the bale engaging portion including hook mechanism pivotally connected to the frame portion adjacent one edge thereof, the hook mechanism being oriented substantially parallel to the side members of the base section, the hook mechanism being of a length substantially the same as the side members; the control portion including mechanism for driving the rotatable mechanism, mechanism for pivoting the hook mechanism with respect to the base section and mechanism for changing the position of the base section; whereby when the apparatus is attached to a vehicle, a round bale may be positioned on the apparatus by tilting the base section and grasping the bale between the hook mechanism and the base section, and the bale may be opened and distributed by raising the base section and driving the rotatable mechanism to unroll the bale. Cullimore, U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,214, discloses an agricultural cutting mechanism comprising a cutter support bar with guide means, a set of reciprocal knife blade elements, and a set of resilient static fingers mounted on the cutter support bar to exert a pressure on the abutting slidable surfaces of the knife blade elements. Cutting is performed between the edges of the knife blades and the resilient fingers on reciprocation of the knife blades.
The related art described above discloses a variety of machines for cutting crops, bale handling, loading and shredding bales, slicing bales, and opening bales. However, the prior art fails to disclose a machine that is able to lift and cut bales in the effective manner of the present apparatus. The present disclosure distinguishes over the prior art providing heretofore unknown advantages as described in the following summary.